"FIGHTING THE TIGER" AT TRAVEMUNDE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2128, 24 October 1885, Page 2

"FIGHTING THE TIGER" AT TRAVEMUNDE.

Monte Carlo is the only shrine left in Europe for the devotees of Chance; BadenBaden, Hombourg, Travemunde, Heligoland, and the many little iouge et noir and roulette summer resorts, hay? all been made to coi%m ftiepsfilyps to the prohibitpry la\ys qn public gambling fraiiiecl by' civilised governments.' Travemunde—a little German town, at the mouth of the a river entering into Lubeck Bay—wap the Nt plaqe to have its siioiw closed and its oroupiers dismissed, Unfortunately for me, I was at Travemundo on the day the roulette table was metaphorically but emphatically painted red. I was playing, hence the unfortunate phase of the event. With a party of friends, I had been making a pedestrian tour of Holstein. We went from Hamburg to Ploen by rail; from Ploen we walked fijqiig the flf the pictureaquo Pf Tlpeq and Eufcin, through a wooded country to the little town of Ifaiigtadt on the wegfc side of the Bay of Lubeok, Here we chartered a huge aohooner-scow of typical German clumsiness, and sailed across to Travemunde, I will tell of this trip some other day. We were seven in the party. We arrived in Travemunde determined to j fight the tiger. We had pooled our purses, and one of the party was eelepted bylqtjodq the playjng wjththe joint capital fqr the benefit of the association I was the one designated to be the executive gambler, The capital at my command amounted to some 600 thalers—this was in 1869, beforo the reichsmark era—about LBO. I played, with a steady run of ill-luci, until the capital was reduced to about twenty thalers. My beta had been small, I determined to play boldly, and placed tjje whole twenty thalers on the red. It won. I had forty thalers, I " salted' twenty thaler? as a reserve; and bet twenty again on the red. It won. I bet the forty again qu the red. It won. Eighty on the red. It won! One hundred and sixty on the red, It won I Three Jmndrefl ip} twenty on the red. It won ! Sjx hundred and forty on the red. It won I Twelye. hundred and eighty thalers, I looked at my comrades. They noddei Twelve hundred and eighty thalers on the red, It vqn | I was trembling with excitement. The croupier pushed over a like amount to me. Twenty-five hundred and sixty thalers were before me, "Faitca voire jeu!" exclaimod the croupiers, with a strong German aocent, There was no time for much reflection. I glanced around at my coadjutors. They were perplexed. We were all young, and none of ub thought of quitting with such a profit, "Try black I" whispered the nearest one. I.did. I placed the. whole amount on black, and red came up smiling for the tenth time. I pulled the last

" Cassen Schein" from my pocket—our • reserve fund of twenty thalers—and, with • a feverish hand, placed it on black. Red again for the eleventh time I This was indeed a terrible thing, and the fact having been noised outside "of the salon, everyone in Travemunde came'running in. We were all "broke," but we had our watches left. Everyone- was betting on black. That side of the table was a mass of gold and silver and bank notes, 1 stepped up to the manager of the salon' and negotiated a loan on our- seven watches. With 300 thalers 1 returned to the table. Before I could push my way to the edge the " Rien neva plus'-' of the croupier was heard above the din of the excited crowd, A shout of disappointment—red had won for the twelfth time. |t I placed my whole sum on black; so did * everyone else. There was not a cent bet on red, On black everyone in the room had placed their all. There ■ was a lull as the croupiers counted over the bets to see if the bank's limit was exceeded. " Rien neva plus!" came the usual cry, The . whirr of the wheel, the rattle of-the ball was heard with startling distinctness. The crowd wos hushed wit'Vxpectant; Bilence. " Yingt-deux— Rouge!" cried the croupier. howl of despair from the crowd. Red had won for the thirteenth time! Everyone was a loser 1 Curses were heard, words of self-crimination filled the room, the crowd pushed and jostled around the table in an aimless way. There wore but three bets on the table—one on red and two on black—the whole sum a trifling one, " Dix-sept manque—impar—N'jir 1" and the terrible spell was broken, Red had won thirteen times in succession, and the bank had made enormous winnings. Our party of Beven left the room in deep silenco, We'were not cheerful, Miles away from home, without a cent! We explained our case to the landlord of our hotel, and he sent a despatch to Hamburg for us, which brought enough to take us home. -We redeemed our watohes later on. 1 San Francisco News Letter.' • •;